(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat and, more particularly, to a method of a sewing process for a trim cover of the vehicle seat provided with a decorative band.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the vehicle seats, suggestions have been made concerning seats added with a strip-shaped decorative band (also called a character pattern) with external appearance design in mind.
A trim cover covering a vehicle seat conventionally includes a component made up of a plurality of sheets of covering and wadding joined to one another. The sewing process of the vehicle seat with the decorative band requires the sewing of the decorative band to a portion of the trim cover.
For example, Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. Hei (1993) 5-40798 is known as background art in the technical field. Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. Hei 5 (1993)-40798 discloses a sewn covering cover used for a vehicle seat. The sewn covering cover is used to envelope the vehicle seat, which includes a band-plate-shaped basic core material, an auxiliary core material similarly formed in a band-plate shape, and a covering material. An end of the covering material is placed between the basic core material and the auxiliary core material. These materials are sewn together at each of both ends of the basic core material in the width direction. The covering material is folded back outward with respect to the basic core material, in order to create a deep hollow having a bottom formed by the basic core material and extending between the folding-back portions of the covering materials which are located opposite to each other.
In Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. Hei 5 (1993)-40798, the covering material having a backside laminated with slab urethane is sewn to both widthwise ends of the basic core material similarly laminated with slab urethane and then the covering material is folded back outward with respect to the basic core material to form the sewn covering cover. Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. Hei 5 (1993)-40798 makes no mention of the sewing of a decorative band, but using the technique disclosed in this publication leads to sewing a decorative band made up of a covering and wadding to a member of a trim cover similarly made up of a covering and wadding. In short, the coverings with the wadding are sewn together. In this case, the sewing is performed on the coverings together with the wadding. As a result, the area where the decorative band is sewn has an increased thickness, giving rise to a disadvantageous problem of occupant discomfort when he/she sits.
The present invention has been made in light of these circumstances and it is an object of the present invention to address the shortcoming of a vehicle seat provided with a decorative band as described above.